Gold Engagement and Wedding Rings Lost In The Leaves, Found With A Metal Detector, In Eliot, Maine

On Friday night, September 13, 2024, I received the following text,

“Hi Dennis, found you on the Ring Finders website. Would you be willing to travel to Eliot, ME for a service? About 45 minutes south of Saco”

I replied, “Hello, Yes I have and will travel to Elliot. What is the search for”?

She replied, “My wedding and engagement ring went into an area off the side of my house last night. It’s the edge of the property so it’s where the grass becomes a little woodsy, But I can pinpoint the general area”.

I replied, “Ok, I can certainly come and search for you. Is tomorrow morning a good time? I can be there around 8:00am”

She then replied that would be great and sent me her name, Bonnie, and her address, in Eliot, Maine. I then asked Bonnie a bunch of questions, so I could be prepared, for the search, first thing in the morning.

Bonnie then told me that her rings were White Gold and she had lost them, the night before, at approximately 6:00pm. Bonnie had been doing a little yard work and that included throwing many pine cones and downed branches, over the fence, into woodsy, marshy area. That is when they “went flying “, off her finger and into the above mentioned area. I had also asked if any mowing or mulching, had taken place, since she lost them and told her that I have seen rings, damaged by mowers, in the past. Bonnie replied

“There shouldn’t be any damage, the most difficult part is they landed in an area that is a little woodsy and has a lot of old marshy leaf buildup. Luckily the area is dry now and I can tell you the exact direction to look”.

This morning, I left for Bonnie’s house, at approximately 7:00am, arriving just before 8:00am. Bonnie immediately came out to greet me and proceeded to take me to the search area. The first thing I noticed was a metal fence, around the property. This dog fence may be a problem. It is very difficult to search, up against a metal fence. The detector could potentially go off, whenever it comes within 4-5 inches of the fence. If the rings were against the fence, the fence could “mask” the gold tone and I would never hear the ring, being detected. Thankfully, not knowing the exact terrain, I would need to search, I brought 3 of my detectors, with 3 different size coils. I brought my Minelab Manticore with an 8 inch coil, my Minelab E-Trac, with an 11 inch coil and my Minelab CTX-3030, with a 17 inch coil. Better to have them all and not need them, than need them and not have them.

Bonnie pointed out the area she thought, one of the rings had landed, as she saw them go flying towards the fence and woodsy area. One ring went to the left and the other ring broke, to the right.  I would search for the one, that broke to the left, first. After searching for that one, I would search for the one that broke to the right. I decided to start with the 8” coil and get as close to the fence as possible. Even with my small coil, the fence was just to overwhelming and I didn’t hear anything, but the fence. I performed a grid of approximately 30’, along the fence, turned around and headed back to my starting point, after taking a 1/2 step over, towards the lawn. After a couple more back and forth’s and 1/2 steps, further onto the lawn, no ring was found. I decided to try my 11” coil, in the same area, starting out, on the lawn, working my way, to the fence. This way, I would have covered the area twice, with two different coils. I was now against the fence again and about 1/2 way down the fence, I heard just a slight “fluttering “ low tone, against the fence. I then swung the coil, over the area again and this time, a leaf moved and I could see a small sliver of silver. I moved the leaf, off of the target and saw Bonnie’s wedding ring. Phew, One ring down and one to go. I was now approaching 1 hour of searching and felt the Engagement Ring was in the area. Another sweep of the area, found nothing new. Just the same trash targets, I had found, with the 8” coil.

I then asked Bonnie if she had a rake, so we could rake all the leaves, away from the fence, and towards the lawn, where the metal fence wouldn’t interfere. Bonnie raked the leaves and I went on the other side of the fence and started searching the area, that Bonnie thought the engagement ring would be in. There were many more branches and limbs on that side of the fence and I started removing them and throwing them deeper, into the woods. I then took the rake from Bonnie and started raking the leaves, away from the fence, on the woodsy side. Another hour had passed and still nothing. I came back on the house side of the fence and searched the leaves that Bonnie had raked, away from the fence and still nothing.

I then asked Bonnie to go over the event of the losing the rings again. Bonnie said she saw one go towards the left and one went to the right. As I was talking to her, I decided to go back on the woodsy and marshy side of the fence. The ring certainly wasn’t on the house side of the fence, imho. I was also thinking that “What If”, the first ring I found was actually the ring that had broken, off to the right, and it wasn’t the ring Bonnie thought had broken to the left. That would mean the engagement ring may be much further to the left, than Bonnie thought. I went up into the area and again started throwing branches and larger tree limbs, aside. As I followed the metal fence about 25 feet, to the left of the found wedding ring, I was still unable to find it. I then took a 1/2 step, to my right and headed back to the area, where the first ring was found. I had gone maybe 10 feet when I received a solid 12-02 on my E-Trac. That is an extremely low conductive reading and certainly in the gold range, but it could also be aluminum foil or some other low conductive metal. After receiving the tone, I looked around the coil and couldn’t see anything. I then took the coil, located the target, under some leaves and moved the leaves, with my coil. THERE IT WAS, BONNIE’S ENGAGEMENT RING. I immediately looked over to Bonnie, on the other side of the fence and yelled “SUCCESS “. Bonnie came right over and I asked her if she could see the ring. She couldn’t, because I had covered it back up. I then ran my coil of the leaves and Bonnie could hear the target but couldn’t see it. I then removed the leaves and there it was for Bonnie to see. This ring, never would have been found visually. With more and more leaves dropping, it would only have been buried deeper, under the leaves.

So after 2 1/2 hours of searching Bonnie was just so happy to have her Wedding and Engagement Ring, back on her finger, where they belong. The many thank you’s, smiles and hug, I received from Bonnie just had me beaming 😁. Bonnie told me she was “forever grateful” and always will be, for me coming down asap, to find her rings. I also, will always be “forever grateful”, for being able to help people like Bonnie.